drove English · revision 5707

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=971}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: UK /drəʊv/, US /droʊv/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|drof]], [[inh|ang|drāf|t=the act of driving; a herd driven]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) from [[m|ang|drīfan|t=to drive]] (see [[drive]]), from a gradation variant of the same base.^(Hoad 1986)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The act of driving: 971 in the OED and Barnhart, a sense found only in Old English.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ A herd or flock of animals driven together is from before 1121 in the OED, and in Middle English from about 1250, in ''Genesis and Exodus'';^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1988) a crowd of people or other animals moving together is from 1014.^(OED 1989) Old English draf also meant a road along which cattle were driven,^(Etymonline) and a drainage or irrigation channel, a sense kept in East Anglian and fenland use.^(OED 1989)^(Collins 2023) A stonemason's broad chisel is from 1825.^(OED 1989) ''Drover'', one who drives livestock to market, is from 1393–94, earlier as a surname,^(Barnhart 1988) and the verb drove, to drive cattle, from 1632, probably a back-formation from drover.^(OED 1989)^(MWU 2024)^(SOED 2002) ''In droves'', in great numbers, comes from the sense of a crowd.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 934 – a channel.^(OED 1989)

+ * 971 – the act of driving.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1014 – a crowd.^(OED 1989)

+ * a1121 – a herd driven together.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1393–94 – ''drover''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1825 – a mason's chisel.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[herd]] or flock of animals being driven together.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(often droves)'' A large [[crowd]] of people moving together: ''they came in droves''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A broad [[chisel]] for dressing stone, or a surface dressed with it.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A narrow channel for drainage or [[irrigation]].^(Collins 2023)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[drover]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[drive]]

+ * [[drift]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Drove is also the past tense of [[drive]], from Old English drāf, the past tense of drīfan;^(Etymonline)^(Collins 2023) this form is the same in origin as the noun.^(Hoad 1986)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}